what I ate and other stories

Guest Writer: Emily’s Snack Trek to BRUXIE

Boldly folding as no one has before. (Sounds like a drag queen thing.)

Hey all! So a few people actually wanted to guest blog for The Binge. Imagine that!

I’m calling this feature “Guest Writer” because that’s how I imagine a person would say “Ghost Writer” (remember that TV show?) in a weird Dutch accent. And because there’s a guest writer.

Today’s guest post come from Emily. She is a professional communicator in marketing and public relations, most recently for the produce industry. She also likes to exercise outdoors. Like, running in canyons. So she is legit on many levels. Funny enough– while I reside in LA and often visit Old Towne Orange, Emily lives in Old Towne Orange (with her husband, Damian) and often visits LA. She is also a frequent Yelp commenter.

For her first guest post, Emily reviewed an eatery that’s new to Old Towne/The Circle and has proven to be the Pink’s of Glassell Avenue… a tiny waffle stand that’s making a big splash. I’m stealing all these pictures from the Googles. If you click them you’ll see where I stole them from. (And I’m writing the captions– don’t blame Emily.)

OH and I just found out that today is Emily’s birthday. Happy birthday!!! (This is your present?) (Sorry.)

My husband and I tried Bruxie for dinner. We live local and we always try what pops up in downtown Orange.

On this cold, windy night, we hopped on down the street. We discovered a decent sized crowd. I didn’t expect a line on their Grand Opening Day– and who knew the line would continue all these many months later.

Here are our first impressions:

Presentation: Cute upgrade to the location with the paint colors, signage, and tables. The branding is simple, chic and clean. Although the tag line “The Bold Fold” makes my husband think of the female anatomy. [Ed. note: I like him already!] Good or bad…it is memorable. We don’t have to worry about parking, but we know it to be limited and must be a struggle for a new business. However, with Chapman University nearby, we can see it being a lunchtime favorite that is easy to walk to.

Service: The line was long and slow. We didn’t really see that as a problem being that Bruxie has just opened and probably wasn’t anticipating the rush, which also reveals why they were out of the Chicken and Waffle Sandwich and the Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich. There was a very helpful person delivering completed orders and answering questions. I would be happy to hire her for any service job as she was friendly, prompt, and cute.

We thought it was weird that the waffle fries came out first. Then 10 minutes later the custard came out, and then finally, the sandwiches a few minutes later. It would have been nice to get everything at once to keep what needed to be hot, hot and what needed to stay cold, cold.

Food–

Waffle Fries: We enjoyed the fries immensely. They were hot, crispy and delicious. We didn’t even need ketchup with them. [Ed. note: Whaaaat?] We ate them before anything else could arrive.

Ugh, I'm a sucker for waffle fries. Cholesterol threat level: high.

Bruxie Burger: We found that the waffle worked really well with the burger. It gave the sandwich an unexpected crispiness and was not really sweet at all to distract from the flavor of the burger. The burger was meaty, juicy and not overcooked. The tomato and lettuce were very fresh. The only thing that could have improved it was some of the tasty cheese that you can get when you order a Cheesy Bruxie.

Sun-dried Tomato and Goat Cheese: Not worth the money at all. I love this combination of flavors normally, but it was overpowered by the waffle. There was not nearly enough sun-dried tomato and there was no indication of the balsamic reduction. This was just a fold. There was very little filling. I think this is the challenge with “The Bold Fold.” I gave more than half of it for my husband to eat because I didn’t want to waste my calories.

Having returned a few times, I would recommend other items on the menu because I haven’t had a bad eating experience since the Sun-dried Tomato and Goat Cheese fold. I recommend the Bacon, Egg and Cheese Bruxie, the Prosciutto and Cheese… the list goes on.

Apparently this is the Bacon, Egg & Cheddar. Looks like a pizza to me.

I enjoy that they have seasonal menus as well, hand-written on a chalkboard. The Chicken and Waffle was good, but I would not order it again. However, I would order the Bacon, Egg and Cheese again and again. It was delicious morning, noon and night. We have even taken my in-laws. Despite the enormously long line, they loved it and have Facebooked us with comments about it.

I have also been very impressed whether it is a Grilled Mushroom Bruxie or a Fresh Strawberry shake. I will even throw in loving any of their Crème Brule sweet Bruxies. We still need to try many of the sweet waffles to be fair, but we know Peet’s coffee is available there and is great.

Custard: I wasn’t a huge fan of the custard. I think you can get a better tasting value with frozen yogurt. That said, it was very creamy and my husband thought it was very tasty and rich, but he felt it could use some hot fudge or butterscotch.

We believe Bruxie has surpassed its potential in downtown Orange. Since the Grand Opening, it has worked out a lot of its first day kinks. Our suggestions would be…

-Let the poor girl delivering food and announcing numbers be there for questions and clean up and get a PA system to announce numbers.

-Save yourself some labor and have the customers pick up their stuff. It will save you some trouble and customers are used to being called up for fast food at a window. (That said, this isn’t really a ding as the staff is very friendly and whatever ways works for them ultimately works for me. It is very nice that you get table service in a fast food setting.)

– Call the order when everything is done and not one item at a time. It would have been nice to have the fries with the sandwich on our first trip. However, not really a ding either because I really feel this is improving as well.

We have also observed many other changes since the first opening like lights for the sign and covering and umbrellas from inclement weather. I wonder how much profit is being made at this tiny gourmet stand… incredible success from an outside perspective.